Omaha daily bee., 1887-09-25
The Order OF Odd Fellows


One of the most difficult things to deal
with is the origin and ancient history of
secret organization. Among the list of
these societies there is none but for
which there is claimed an origin SO an
cient that the memory of man runneth
not to the contrary. 1t is conceded IN all
quarters that the organization known as
Odd Fellows is one of the two parents of
the secret societies of the world. The
assemblage of thousands of members of
this order in Denver during the past
week, in attendance upon the sovereign
grand lodge, will cause a bret review of
the history of the organization to be in
teresting.
The authentic history of this society
goes back but few years, but in its
spirit 1t is as old as the emblems of
Friendship. Love and Truth. While it's
history as an organization covers less
than one hundred of the past years, its
emblems and instructions link the charm.
ing tale OF the friendship of
DAVID AND JONATHAN
with its record, and makes the pure
traditions of the benevolent lives of
ancient patriarchs complement OF its
present creed.
From the time that men began to heed
the injunction to do good to one another
they have naturally bound themselves
together in societies to accomplish
the greater results. David voiced the
common feelings of good men, and IN
effect described the benevolent orders of
his own civilized times when he said:
Behold how good and how pleasant 1t
unity" Plutarch tells us that there ex.
listed in the Roman army the societies of
Lusitana and of the solduri. And later,
in the days of Titus Caesar, A. II. 20,
there existed in Rome the society of
"Fellow Citizens, to which the emperor
gave a dispensatiOn engraved on a
golden plate. Some have traced Odd
Fellowship back to those societies and
especially to the latter whose. name sug-
gests at least a resemblance in principle.
Some writer's claim that Odd Fellowship
existed among the Goths and Huns and
other northern nations in the fourth CEN
tury, that it was established in Spain in
the fifth century, in Portugal IN the
sixth, in France in the twelfth and IN
England at about the same time.
However this may. be, 1t is true that
the proper history of the organization
begins with the latter part of
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 81.
During that period there. were Or
;;S' ;S;osed of " mechanics ssD' and I"'I iaborers @
calling themselves "Anclent and Honor.
able Odd Fellows" The meetings of
these clubs were for convivial purposes,
and commonly held in taverns. 1t be-
came the custom for the members to
each to create fund for the relief of the
poor, to defray funeral expenses, and to
provide for widows and orphans. Shortly
the order extended to Liverpool, and the
clubs or lodges then united under the
name of the Union Order of Odd Fell
lows, with London as the seat of govern
ment. In few years lodges were estab.
lished in every part of England. In
1909 reformers sought to abolish the con-
vivial feature of the meetings, which at.
tempt was opposed by the orthodox
men: bers. The reformers, however,
grew stronger. and in 1913 held q con-
Venton at Manchester, upon which
occasion several lodges seeded from the
main order and organized the lndepend-
ent Order of Odd Fellows. It'.
In 1895, a committee was cstab-
ished ut Manchester to govern the
order in the interim between the sessions
of the grand lodge. This let to dissen-
sions and to secessions, but did not
break up the organization, which took
the name OF Manchester Unity, and re-
mains to this day the main body of the
English Odd Fellows. The aggregate
membership of all the lodges is over half
million. Thus it appears, that, strictly
speaking, the history of the Independent
Order Of Odd Fellows begins with 1873
The origin of ,-.....-t t.r..-.. .
THE WORD "INDEPENDENr'' --r n
was the secession OF the lodges controlled
by the reformers from the main order
The seeding lodges continued their Or
ganizations without authority from the
old body, and were, therefore, properly
termed 'independent."
in the United States was at Baltimore, on
April 20, 1919. This was the result of
some very earnest work on the part of
two Englishmen, Thomas Wildey and
John Welch. Wlldey had been mi
tIated into lodge of Odd Fellows in
London in 1904, which was subordinate
to a body then known as the Grand
Lodge of England, but which had little
authority outside of London. He emil
grated to this country in 1917, before the
Manchester Unity had established it's su
premacy, so that he had received no in
structions in the work of the Independent
order. He had passed through all the
offices of the lodge and had been noble
grand three times. Welch had also been
member of London lodge. These two
men IN strange land seriously felt the
VI Iuc SOCldl plcdSVEeS VI tUe
lodge. and naturally became anxius to
introduce the order into this country.
Rut there were only two of them
and five were required for the
establishment of lodge. After
vainly hunting for three or more
odd Fellows for some time, they finally
advertised in the Baltimore American. in
its issue of February 10, 1919. This
brought to light two more, John Duncan
and John Cheatham. They still lacked
one, and finally they advertised again,
March 27. This brought the fifth man.
Richard Rushworth. On Monday, April
20, they met at the Sign OF the Seven
Stars" a public house, and with due
forms and ceremonies instituted and
opened lodge which they named
WASHINGTON LODGE
of Odd Fellows. Thomas Wildey
was made noble grand and John
Welch vice grand. Within two or three
weeks the new lodge had increased its
membership to fifteen. About this time
Henry jackson arHved in Baltimore
from Liverpool with copies of "the
| charges then recently revised by the still
| incipient Manchester Unity" and with
the lectures issued by the same authority
Jackson came with the hope of being the
| pioneer of Odd-Fellowship in America,